There was a flight sale (very rare up here), so we booked flights from Norman Wells to Yellowknife for our Australia trip. So it seemed like a good time to talk about flying up North.
Canada’s major airlines (Air Canada & WestJet) will get you as far as Yellowknife and Whitehorse. After that, you’ll have to switch to one of the North’s numerous smaller carriers. Most of these airlines won’t show up on Google Flights, so you have to know where to look for them. They may or may not have online booking options, and they will all be quite expensive.
North-Wright is the only airline with regularly scheduled flights to Tulita. They fly to Yellowknife via Deline once daily Mon-Fri ($850 each way, but you can save $50 by paying in cash at their office), and to Norman Wells Mon-Sat ($233 each way).
From Norman Wells, First Air and Canadian North fly to Yellowknife and Inuvik. These airlines also fly around Nunavut. Some of the other main northern airlines are Calm Air, which flies around northern Manitoba and southern Nunavut, and Air North, which flies around the Yukon and also from Yellowknife direct to Ottawa.
The other airlines with scheduled flights around the Northwest Territories are Air Tindi, Northwestern Air and Buffalo Airways around the southern parts of the territory, and Aklak Air further north.
Charter flights quite common up here, and may even be cheaper than the scheduled flights with a few people on board. Charter flights are the only way to get into Nahanni & Nááts’ihch’oh. Most of the airlines that offer scheduled flights also offer chartered flights. Additionally, there are a number of companies that only do charter & cargo. Here are a few:
Hopefully this information will help you with planning your next trip to the North!
